Waiting for a Miracle - Chapter 17

Wallace looked up from his game of solitaire, as did Leona. Sitting on the floor across from Wallace with her elbows propped on her holy relic coffee table, she watched his game with glazed, unfocused eyes as I walked through the door.

When he didn’t lay down the card in his hand, she looked up at him, and then over at me. I guessed she was so bored that she hadn’t noticed my arrival.

I nodded a quiet answer to her questioning look, which made her ears and tail perk up right away. My gaze fell on Vicky next, seated on the divan and holding her arms around her chest like she was barely keeping herself together.

I smiled as I gave her a quick thumbs up. “Yes, he still loves you, and he’ll take you back under the right conditions.”

Looking relieved, Vicky let the tension drain from her shoulders and back as she asked, “What conditions might those be?”

“The one’s I’m making for you,” I said.

“Then I suppose you want me to go shopping for you now?” Vicky held up the list I’d given her before heading to Chet’s.

“Yes,” I said, opening the door as she got up to leave. “And thank you for helping out, by the way.”

“I need to do something to earn this.” Vicky leaned over and kissed my cheek, surprising me.

I asked, “What was that for?”

“That was to thank you for saving my life.” Vicky kissed my other cheek.

“And that?”

“That’s for trying to save my relationship with Chet,” Vicky whispered, near the verge of bursting into tears.

She left quickly to avoid crying in front of us, and I shut the door, turning to grin at Leona and Wallace. “After that, I’m glad I didn’t kiss Chet. I might have ruined my own plot before it started.”

“He was going to kiss you?” Wallace asked, becoming even more confused when I nodded. “Why?”

“I asked him to.” Wallace’s eyebrow arched at this, and I shrugged. “He would have, but I just couldn’t do it.”

Smirking, Wallace got up to fix some drinks for us. “I had a feeling it would go like that.”

I sat down on the couch, smiling at Leona. I noticed right away that she looked sad, and I asked, “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, looking away from me. Leaning forward, I took her hand and stroked the back of it, waiting for her to look at me.

“Why can’t we just retire?” she asked quietly, a heavy tear rolling down her cheek.

I wiped it away with my thumb. “We will, and very soon at that. Even if we stay here for some reason to play the game with Chet, we won’t be playing it the same way. You and I are going to take lots of trips camping and what not. We can even rent a yacht for a week and visit the Caribbean if it tickles your fancy. I just need to get this out of my system by getting Chet back into the game before I quit.”

“What if this plot fails to get him back?” Leona mumbled.

I squeezed her hand. “Then I’ll quit with Wallace, and we can go shopping for our own little cabin on the lake.”

“You promise?” Leona asked.

I smiled and nodded, tugging her up and around the table to offer a gentle hug. “I wish I were as strong as you,” I whispered and kissed the tip of her ear.

Leona blushed at that. “You gave me that strength.”

“No, it was always there. Wallace helped me see that, and together we just reminded you of what you had all along.” I looked up when Wallace jiggled my drink to get my attention.

He handed Leona another glass and sat down on the divan, taking a sip from his bourbon and cola. “So, do you think this—?”

“No Wallace, please don’t ask if this is a foolproof plan.” This admission brought back a lot of my frustration with Chet throwing my own words back at me.

Sitting on the antique couch beside the divan, I covered my grimace by taking a long drink from my glass. I was grateful that Wallace mixed his drinks so strong, because the alcohol washed away my anger in a slow spreading ripple of tingles.

Heaving a sigh, I said, “A million things could all go wrong, and the first is that Chet might not turn on his TV.”

Wallace nodded at this, and we drank in silence for several minutes before I told them in detail about my trip to see Chet.

Wallace chuckled when I finished, and he waved his hand when I frowned. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you confirmed a theory of mine about you. You don’t really love Chet. You’re just worshipping the ideals he represents. Presented with an opportunity to make your fantasies real, you balked.”

He stared for a few seconds, regarding me with a thoughtful smile. “Why did you decide not to kiss him?”

“He’s not the person I thought he was,” I said.

I was unsure of whether to tell Wallace about my feelings for him.

“You saw the truth then?” Wallace asked. “Can you admit you’ve been playing a game based on fantasies that can’t be fulfilled?”

His condescending tone of voice caused me to briefly forget why I found him attractive.

He didn’t seem to notice my agitation, and he pressed on in the face of my tight-lipped silence. “Now that reality is kicking those fantasies to death, how can you still want to go on playing the same tired game?”

“Wallace, I’ve got your point, so drop it. You think I should retire, and so does Leona. For what it’s worth I agree. But try to look at the bigger picture for a moment. When I quit, my organization of criminals will fight over their turfs before a new overlord is crowned. There’s a lot of new villains in town looking for action, and that crown dangling from a string…it’s going to be a bloody fight. A lot of innocent people will be caught up in it.”

Wallace nodded, but said nothing.

I emptied my drink and settled the glass on my thigh. “Maybe you can turn away from that, but I can’t. I may lack the conviction to police the criminals myself, but if I can get Chet back into his job, maybe I can leave the city to him.”

“What if you can’t?” Wallace asked, again echoing Leona’s thoughts.

“If I can’t, I’ll give this place the finger and quit.” I followed that with a thought that I hoped I wouldn’t have to abandon the citizens of City. My frown grew as I added, “For now, I need the two of you to stop asking me about my retirement. There’s still a lot to be done to pull my plan off, and I need to be focused.”

“What do we do now?” Wallace asked.

“You will get in my spare suit so I can train you in how to use it. It’s similar in function to the collars, but I want you to get used to phasing and using the light blades. For the next two days, you and I are going to push the suits to their upper limits.”

“And me?” Leona asked. “What will I be doing?”

I smiled  and said, “You’re going to patrol City in Wallace’s place.”

“Oh, no.” Leona shook her head fast. “No-no-no, not me. I can’t do that.”

“Yes you can,” I assured her. “Wallace believes you can too. You aren’t the same woman that you were even a month ago, and all you need to do to be a hero is to believe in yourself.”

Leona’s ears and tail drooped. “I’ll try, I guess.”

Knowing I could cheer her up easily, I said, “After I take Wallace out for his training, I’ll come over to give you an extra special treat.”

Her eyes brightened immediately, and she gave me a hug before she left to go on patrol.

Wallace and I left too, heading to my lab to get the suits.

The reporters had given up on catching sight of Leona and I, which allowed Wallace and I to walk in without fear of being spotted together.

I went to the vault and opened it. Handing Wallace my spare suit before I began slipping into my own, I turned around just at Wallace stepped out of his slacks, and I ended up watching him strip and then step into the suit.

I let my mind drift back to my near kiss with Chet, wondering if Wallace was right about me wanting to live with fantasies more than living in the real world. Maybe what I felt about Wallace was also a fantasy. Or…or maybe what I felt for Chet wasn’t a fantasy so much as unrequited love.

After all, Chet had agreed to give me one kiss, and the moment could have been everything I’d ever dreamed of and then some. But I ruined it because I wanted more than he could or would offer.

Thinking on the issue this way, I could admit that it was my fears of being alone that had spoiled the moment for me.

Shrugging the thought away, I zipped my suit shut and tugged on my mask. I looked at Wallace as he did the same.

“You activate the suit by a thought, and it hurts worse than the collar when it connects to your nervous system,” I warned, gritting my teeth as I activated my suit.

“Whoa Nelly!” Wallace yelped, staggering as he activated his suit. “Couldn’t you have found a better way to link with the suit than a set of needles running up your spine?”

“Yes, that would be sixteen needles in the neck. Will there be any other questions?”

“Yes,” Wallace said after recovering from his initial shock. “What do we do first?”

“First, we will just fly. You use a collar better than I ever could, so I’d like to see how much you can take advantage of the suit’s extra power.”

Wallace activated his suit, trying to shield his eyes with his forearm in a rather goofy way. Then, without a single word of training from me, he turned down the intensity of the light his suit put out until it was barely glowing.

I’d never done that before. Hell, I didn’t even know I could do it.

Stunned, I asked, “How did you do that?”

Wallace shrugged and said, “I just thought about it, and then it happened.”

I tried, but I couldn’t make it work.

The humiliations didn’t end there. In short order, I found out that Wallace was a natural in my suit. Aside from being able to fly faster than me, he had an uncanny sense of balance and spatial awareness that made sparring with him a thoroughly humbling experience.

Only then did I learn that he’d taken fencing in college, and that he still worked out in an Akido dojo.

I asked him what belt he was, and he shrugged. “I don’t know. My sensei says belts are for holding pants up. I guess I’m doing okay, though.”

I laughed and said, “You’re more than okay.”

In every way, he was my superior, but his modesty made it downright impossible to feel frustrated by his strengths.

Even though I had a good idea of what the result would be, I challenged him to a race with neither of us using any powers. It began at my lab and ended at his house. He beat me at that as well, pulling ahead of me by several blocks near the end when my reserves gave out.

Arriving on his front doorstep almost a minute behind him, I favored Wallace with a lopsided grin as I panted for air.

I rested my hand on the doorframe for support, huffing a tired laugh. “You’ve beaten me at everything. Do you know how annoying that is?”

“I didn’t mean to annoy you.” Wallace said. He spoke in a soft voice, like he’d done a bad thing by showing me up.

I laughed again, quickly shaking my head. “You shouldn’t apologize to me for being better at everything than I am.”

I glanced at the empty driveway. Maggie and Greg weren’t home, and a thought came to me suddenly. “You know, it’s the fact that you are better that makes you so attractive to me.”

I got that old nervous nerdy feeling, but this time, I refused to let my fears stop me. I reached out and took Wallace’s hand, kissing his palm. I pulled him close and set his hand on my hip.

He gave me an odd look, a worried frown pulling at his mouth. I thought that perhaps he was upset with me for admitting the truth, but I was focused on my plan and determined to see it through.

Leaning forward, I closed my eyes and kissed Wallace. He stepped closer and put his other arm around my waist, pulling me against him as he returned the kiss.

It felt like a lightning bolt ran from my head straight down through my body and into my crotch. Everything in its path suddenly ached, and I felt giddy with excitement.

When Wallace broke the kiss, I leaned against his front door and smiled as I opened my eyes. “I finally proved you wrong on one thing.”

“What’s that?” Wallace asked as he brushed my cheek with his fingertips.

“The reality of that was far better than any fantasy I could have ever made up.”

Heaving a quiet sigh, Wallace shook his head. “Duggan, I have a family. This is just another fantasy that you can’t have.”

He backed away from me, and I cried a little then.

I couldn’t help it. Wallace was everything I felt I needed to leave the stupid game once and for all, but I couldn’t have him. Kissing him only made things worse, because then I knew what I was missing.

Maggie’s car pulled into the driveway, and my stomach sank as I started drying my eyes.

Crossing the front yard, Maggie smiled and waved to us. She carried a pair of sacks in one hand, while Greg trundled under the burden of four sacks in each hand.

Maggie’s expression became concerned when she saw my pout. “Is everything okay?”

Of course I felt like a rotten scum-bucket, and I looked down to avoid her gaze. I couldn’t find my voice to mutter anything, so I just nodded.

“We were just discussing some things troubling Duggan,” Wallace lied to cover for me. “He’s going to be fine.”

Wallace moved me aside to open the door. “I’ll be inside here in a minute.”

“Duggan, would you like to stay for dinner?” Maggie offered.

There I was, my lips still wet from my attempt to seduce her husband. I felt sick with guilt, and I’m sure it showed n my face, in my eyes.

I tried to look up, but my gaze couldn’t meet Maggie’s eyes. I was too afraid that she would see my thoughts. What’s wrong? Oh, nothing major. I just tried to steal your husband.

“No, thank you.” I tried to force what I hoped wasn’t too phony a smile. “I’m having dinner with Leona tonight.”

“All right. Well I hope you feel better soon,” Maggie said, having no idea how many times she was twisting a knife in my gut with her kindness.

She went inside, followed by Greg. He nodded to me and said,“Hey, dude.”

I watched him shuffle inside and up the hallway to the kitchen. Guilt was ripping holes in my gut every time I thought, Would you really try to take Wallace away from them? Are you that petty?

I glanced at Wallace with a guilty scowl. “I’m going home now, before I ruin your life like every one of my plots.”

I turned around to walk away, but Wallace grabbed my wrist, turning me back to face him. He slid his hand over my cheek, and I closed my eyes, my heart aching when I felt his warm breath against my ear.

“I can’t be with you, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you,” he whispered.

His hand dropped away, and when I opened my eyes, he had already stepped into his house.

He held the door, watching with a me sad expression that felt like pity to me.

I felt tall enough to drown in a puddle of spit.

Clearing his throat, Wallace said, “Go home, Duggan. Go home and finish this plot.”

He shut the door, and I turned on my suit to fly across the same stretch of road we’d just run over. The whole time, all I could do was mutter at myself for being so stupid and selfish. If I really loved Wallace, why couldn’t I just be happy with his friendship? Why did I have to ruin his life too?

Because of my badgering thoughts, I didn’t end up at my lab. I came to my senses in front of Leona’s apartment, and as I looked at the numbers stenciled on her door, I heard Wallace again telling me to go home.

Home is where the heart is, and I had no love left for my old home, or for my old life.

I phased through the door and sat in the dark, waiting for Leona to return. I thought of Vicky for a while, hoping my plan would at least get her back together with Chet, even if it failed to make him into a hero again.

It didn’t matter if he would return or not, because I knew I was done being a villain.